Friday 27 June 2014

Official Statement: Addressing critical remarks from The LDS (Utah) Mormons.

As members of the Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ and its highest council we confirm to the world that we are practising Mormons and have no need to or want to study any Anti- Mormon literature now or at any time. It would seem that some would have themselves believe that the search for truth makes one Anti-Mormon. We are NOT Anti-Mormon. We are simply Mormons.

Many of the members of The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ were formally members of the LDS (Utah) Mormon church and after leaving the LDS (Utah) Mormon church many of us have become vociferous in our approach to our view of Mormonism and the teaching of the gospel principles taught by the LDS (Utah) Mormon church that are flawed for example: Polygamy, who can hold the priesthood, Negros, the Book of Mormon Setting etc.

Regarding our receiving of New Scripture, we wish it to be known that we have always stated we received the plates containing the Book of Jeraneck from a Heavenly messenger who bought them to our home. As a church we find it difficult to understand why LDS (Utah) Mormons pour scorn on us as they hold so dear to the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Perhaps they would have looked scornfully upon our dear Prophet Josephs story if they had been around in his day just as they do the history of The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ. We proclaim to the world that Joseph Smith is not the sole property of the LDS (Utah) Mormon church he belongs to every Mormon no matter their sect, indeed he belongs to the whole world.

Regarding those individuals who continually point out spelling errors in the early print runs of the Book of Jeraneck as proof of it not being from God and not inspired of Him, perhaps it might do them good to look at the early editions of the book of Mormon produced by Joseph Smith in 1830 and beyond. The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ does not believe that errors of this nature detract at all from either of these Books messages.

The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ declare to the world that no member of the family of our Prophet whilst members of the LDS (Utah) Mormon Church has ever been excommunicated from that church. The reason for leaving was purely of a spiritual nature for some and for others they could no longer sustain the Brighamite teachings of the LDS (Utah) Mormon Church.

Finally we would like to re-emphasise our stance regarding Scripture. We take as our Standard works of Gospel study, The Book of Mormon (this book does not belong to the LDS church). The 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (this was the last edition approved by Joseph Smith and the voice of the church before his death). The Inspired Version of the Bible in full not fragments. The Book of Jeraneck which like the Book of Mormon is another testament and witness of Christ born by people of the Northern hemisphere (Great Britain) who were led there by God from the time and place of the tower of Babel.

Once again we invite all, everyone, even those disaffected LDS (Utah) Mormons to come and investigate our church; we have a living Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator. Come and hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and hear what the Lord wants from you.
 
Regards
The Office of The Prophet of The Church

Saturday 21 June 2014

Stand In Holy Places

The Lord has said that his house is to be a house of prayer a house of fasting a house of faith a house of learning, and a house of glory. The same should be said of our homes, whether they consist of a husband and wife, mother and child, or single sister, our houses can also be a house of the Lord and as Latter Day Mormons, and we can strive every day for our homes to be holy places given over to God. The Kingdom of God is and always will be anchored firmly in the divinely ordained family unit, tightly bound with the principles of righteousness, purity, and centred around our love and understanding of God, which we know through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Latter Day Mormon homes can and should be safe places of righteousness and spirituality set apart from the world a refuge where individuals are influenced by the living gospel principles every day of their lives. In such a home is made the strong place were our children can come to the safe harbour they need in such times of trouble and strife and temptation that are so readily available and in our faces on a daily basis. The Latter Day Mormon home should always be a place where children and young adults feel the love and nurture of Christ, Heavenly father and the family and where they may be at peace from the world around them, a place were they do not have to do battle with the evil that encompasses them in the world. Latter Day Mormon homes can and should be places to raise families of righteous sons and daughters, mothers and fathers a place where they can feel safe and loved and feel of the overwhelming love and nature of the presence of their Heavenly Father. If our homes are holy places, our children will work toward becoming strong and faithful members of the kingdom and work hard toward their eternal salvation and eventually work towards that goal with their own wives or husbands and eventually with their own children.

As Latter Day Mormons, it is important for us to remember that our homes should first and foremost always be homes of prayer, church attendance, and church service; all these things invite the Lords spirit in to our homes and in to our families. However some times some family members may be reluctant to attend church and take part in church activities, and in turn be even more reluctant to take an active part in family activities and so it is up to us to bring the beauty of the family unite to them and the wonderful spirit of church to them, to make church not just a building, a place for them to attend and receive judgement but a living breathing entity that lives with them all the day, all the week long.  We need to make them feel at church while they are at home; to bring some of the things of heaven in to the home is to insure that family members will move closer to church participation and in turn bring the family closer together, let us remember that there is no greater call than that of the family, the opportunity to emulate our heavenly home here on earth and to bring all our children to salvation.

Therefore brothers and sisters let us remember that as we strive in our homes to make them holy temples of God, places where we can stand in his name we can experience all that the Lord has promised us. The Holy Spirit will be present to comfort, to inspire, and to bless us and our families’ everyday of our lives and we will feel that spirit as we strive towards making our home a sanctuary from the world. So I say unto you let homes with gloomy foreboding and heavenly clouds of despair have their burdens lightened and their faith in God increased so they may feel the love of the Lord in their families, for themselves and their children and see the love of our Saviour envelope our children and steady the family on the rough waters of the world.

Friday 20 June 2014

Official Statement: Prophet and Family Welcome New Arrival


The Prophet Matthew Gill and his family Vicki, Levi and Leonardo welcomed the new arrival of baby Leif Gary Gill on Tuesday the 17th of June at 6:27 in the Morning. The birth went better than planed and it was a wonderful spiritual event and very moving and overwhelming day. Vicki and Leif are now home and doing great. Leif is a wonderful addition to the family and everyone has fallen in love with him right away, his older brothers Levi and Leonardo can’t stop holding and looking at him, everyone is very happy that the our Father in heaven as given us this wonderful opportunity. We would like to thank our family and friends for all the wonderful messages and for all the phone calls of congratulations all of your support and love means so much to us, Thank you.

Saturday 14 June 2014

A Call to Harvest for the Lord


Each of us as Latter Day Mormons has a solemn obligation to, first, understand by the Spirit what has been said about the mission of the Church; second, to catch the prophetic vision of missionary work and third, to implement completely in our own lives the words of the Lord and of His living Prophet pertaining to missionary work. The most important counsel and direction on missionary work comes to us through the Lord himself to his Prophets, for the Prophet is literally the mouthpiece of the Lord. So stated the Lord: “For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth. In all patience and faith” (D&C 21:5)

I testify to you by the power of Spirit that we, indeed all of use who are members of the church should stand as living testimonies of what the Lord would have us do today. I fear that unless we fully understand the words of Prophets past and Prophets present and catch the vision of missionary work, and implement the words of the Lord, we will be held accountable before God. I also fear that we have not yet done what the Lord would have us do as directed to us in his revelations concerning missionary work. The Lord has asked his church that we place great emphasis on the sacredness of bringing those souls unto our Father in Heaven and the importance of greatly increasing our convert baptisms. The Lord has given us much direction on this matter in fact he spoke to John and Peter Whitmer on this very issue, he said, “And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father.” (D&C 15)

As a Church, we have not yet caught that vision. Members are not bringing people and ultimately members into the Church year on year. We have not yet met the challenge and charge laid out by the Lord. As far as convert baptisms are concerned, we have only been converting a few people a year for the last six years. Although those that we have had the privilege of converting and bring to the waters of baptism are still with us, I say to you and to all our members wherever they may be, that we must have more converts. They must be well converted. No gimmicks to get baptisms. They must be real converts, but we do want more converts. It is imperative that we do as the Lord commands and bring souls unto Christ and bring them unto his church. For we have the whole truth, not part, but the whole truth and we should be happy to share this truth with others.

I call upon the members of The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ to actively go out into the world - not merely to make friends for the Church, though that is important - but to properly convert and baptise. “He that believeth and is baptized must be saved.” (Mark 16:16.) Note that the scripture says not he that heareth, but he that believeth and is baptised, and that is the important part. For if we sit back in complacency and do nothing, then the Lord's Church will not grow, tithing will remain stagnant, and so the Church will remain stagnant and wither on the vine, and do we want this? Is it what we are here to do? I say it is not! And what will we say when we stand before the Lord as he calls us forward at judgment? Shall we stand and say, “Lord I tried, but it was too hard, I had other priorities”, or shall we stand and say, “I did as you commanded. I ploughed the field that was white and ready for the harvest; I spoke and I went out; I laboured hard in your name.”

Let me put it this way, and please take the time to think about this before answering yourself. Do we really believe in revelation given today? If so, then why can we not accept the revealed Word of God? He has revealed to us that we should look on the fields; for they are white and ready to harvest (John 4:35.) It has been ready since the inception of the Church under our dear Prophet, Brother Joseph, who was commanded to restore Christ’s Church in these Latter Days. He has asked us again in modern day scripture to go out and harvest the field. (D&C 14:2)

My beloved brothers and sisters we have been given revelation in the form of great new scripture, who are we to withhold that blessing from the world? Who are we to deny them a chance at salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church? I ask each and every one of you, and I will include myself, to set for our church a goal that we shall get up and go out in to the world to endeavour to bring souls unto the Lord and to impart what has been given us as a gift by Almighty God. We live in an age where the possibilities of contacting people are endless, we have at our disposal one of the greatest tools that God has seen fit to bestow upon the mind of man, that gift is the World Wide Web. This great invention did not come about by accident but by the design and will of God, and this gift that we have today allows us to reach out to countries and people that we would have not time enough to see in our mortal probation. With this great gift the church is able to have at its disposal a wonderful new website, social networking tools such as face book and twitter and media outlets such as YouTube where we can talk to hundreds if not thousands of people. Don’t be shy in using these tools they are there for a reason and for us it is to harvest the field that has been ready for such a long time. Use what the Lord has given us; our age is wondrous, use its wonders for the greater glory of God.

Let us act now today in obedience so faithfully, that the Lord, in the final day, shall say to each and every one of us with not one thought of hesitation, “Well done, good and faithful servant… you have served me well.” (Matt. 25:21; Book of Jeraneck 9:12)

 

Saturday 7 June 2014

The Work of Restoring the Truth to the Bible


When the angel Moroni appeared to the young Joseph Smith on 21 September 1823 not only did he open the door for the restoration of truth with the bring froth of the book of Mormon but he also opened up in the mind of the young Joseph certain things that might be amiss with the revealed word of God, the Bible. When Moroni spoke to the young Joseph he quoted a few passages form the Bible however when he quoted them he quoted them with certain significant differences from the widely known King James Bible. This stayed with the young Joseph as a seed being planted in his mind to com forth in full beauty when the time was right. While translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph learned that many “plain and precious things” had been lost from the Bible (see 1 Nephi 13:25-29) and the quotations told him by the Angel Moroni and that had taken route in his mind all those years ago now started to make sense to him. After Joseph was baptised he found that he was enlightened, and the true meaning and intention of the scriptures was revealed to him. So when the Prophet Joseph had made an end of his translating the Gold Plated in to the book of Mormon, it was only natural that his attention would turn to the Bible. When we think of the work that brother Joseph did on the Bible the word translation can be misunderstood. The word translation brings to mind the use of the original text and ancient languages however brother Josephs work was to restore the correctness of the scripture to restore the “plain and precious things” that had been lost and all this to be done by the power of the Spirit, not by scholarly interpretation. As he started the work on the Bible he stated that in June of 1830 while receiving the truth of the Book of Moses or what has become termed the revelation of Moses he stated that “line upon line of knowledge” was being revealed which gave a correct account of hat Moses had received of the Lord, but had not survived the ages of writing and re-writing. As Joseph and Sidney Rigdon were working on the New Testament, the Prophet recorded these words “For while we were doing the work of translation, which the Lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John, which was given unto us, now this caused us to marvel, for it was given unto us of the Spirit” (D&C 76:15, 18). Joseph’s work of translating the Bible was a purely spiritual work, although he would later go in to study German, Hebrew and Latin it was not that knowledge that provided a basis to correct the scriptures. Brother Joseph would go through the entire Bible, dictating to Sidney Rigdon the changes, deletions, or additions. This work brought forth so many new truths that had been lost to us and new information that we could hold true to and expand our understanding of the Gospel.
 
It had been over a year since the Prophet had started work on the revision of the Bible, and the months of January and February 1832 found him again involved in this assignment. It was though is diligent study of the scriptures that many questions were resolved through revelation. One such question had to do with the Christian belief and interpretation of Heaven. The Prophet wrote “Upon my return from Ohio conference, I resumed the translation of the scriptures with Brother Sidney. From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important points touching upon the salvation of man, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled. It appeared self evident from what truths were left, that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body the term ‘Heaven’, as intended for the saint’s eternal home must include more kingdoms than one. Accordingly, on the 16th of February, 1832 while translating St. Johns Gospel, I and Elder Sidney Rigdon saw the following vision….”

This vision can be found in what we know today as section 76 of the D&C and today makes up our understanding of what heaven truly is and what it shall be for all men and this was done through the process of translating the Bible through the spirit. Let us just imagine what great truths and understanding we would be missing today if that work had not rolled forth and how we would be in the same state that the rest of the Christian world finds themselves in today. All this great work that we have in our possession today is thanks to the work done on the Bible and section 78 is no exception.  I would like to finish this sermon with the words of the Prophet himself concerning the work of the translating of the Bible and the impact of “The Vision” that makes up our D&C section 78. “Nothing could be more pleasing to the saints upon the order of the kingdom of the Lord, than the light which burst upon the world through the foregoing vision. Every law, every commandment, every promise, every truth, and every point touching the destiny of man, from Genesis to Revelation, where the purity of the scriptures remains unsullied by the folly of men, go to show the perfection of the theory of different degrees of glory in the future life and witnesses the fact that that document is a transcript from the records of the eternal world. The sublimity of the ideas; the purity of the language; the scope for action; the continued duration for completion, in order that the heirs of salvation may confess the Lord a bow the knee; the rewards for faithfulness, and the punishments for sins, are so much beyond the narrow-mindedness of men, that every honest man is constrained to exclaim: It came from God”
 
In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Monday 2 June 2014

Official Church Statement: Website

Please be advised that The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ are in the process of building a new website and therefore our old website is no longer in use. Please be patient with us while this work is on going. You can still view our blog page and also visit us here on facebook. We hope that the new website will reach out to far greater numbers and spread our Latter Day Mormon message of truth to the world.

Welcome to The Restored Branch of Jesus Christ

We hope you find this blog a good source of information about the Restored Branch of Jesus Christ. If you have any questions or are interested in finding out more about the church email us at info@restoredbranch.com

You are also welcome to join us at our Sunday services, which are held at 10:30 - 1:00 every Sunday. Contact us for details. God Bless and keep you.